still a schrade??

[RescueRiley]

I recently got a large schrade stockman in trade it's us made and is a great knife..alot of the schrades I've seen lately are apparently made in china, but are they of any decent quality? are they fit to bear the schrade name?? Thanks.

 

[JD Mandrell]

They vary a lot, I've seen some that are complete junk and some that were very well made.

 

[flyfishrman]

I recently got a large schrade stockman in trade it's us made and is a great knife..alot of the schrades I've seen lately are apparently made in china, but are they of any decent quality? are they fit to bear the schrade name?? Thanks.

Fit to bear the name? That's a tough question. Fit, maybe. Not all Chinese knives are bad. Alot of the old slippies and lockbacks made overseas are made to the old spec, so they can be decent knives. To me though, something is lost and the new product is just a knife with a name on it and not the Schrades of old. I have seen many of the new knives and they look just the same to me, but I can't bring myself to buy any of them. Not that they're bad, but in my opinion they just aren't real Schrades.

 

[popedandy]

I picked up the annual Schrade collector's knife a year ago and it was quite well made. However, when I looked at five or six Schrades at a local store a few weeks ago, none of them were good enough to buy, even for use as a cheap beater knife.

 

[Bob W]

To most Schrade collectors, the 'real' Schrade ended in 2004 when the Imperial-Schrade Corporation went bancrupt and was dissolved. Since then the Schrade name has been owned by Taylor Brands who contracts Schrade knives with overseas and American manufacturers. And, just an FYI, Schrade themselves had knives imported from around the world, including China!

So the date, not the country of origin, determines whether or not your knife is "still a Schrade." Since you got it on trade, it could be a 'real' Schrade or it could be a Taylor...

Another interesting tidbit, Taylor contracted some of their early Schrade knives from Camillus, who is now out of business. Your knife, even if not a 'real' Schrade, might be collectible as a Camillus!

Make sense?

 

[JD Mandrell]

Another interesting tidbit, Taylor contracted some of their early Schrade knives from Camillus, who is now out of business. Your knife, even if not a 'real' Schrade, might be collectible as a Camillus!

The Yellow "Schrade Walden" knife in this pic' is one.

All the knives in this shot are Camillus, but only the top one has their name on it!

Camillus
Schrade Walden
Craftsman
Cold Steel

 

[ahgar]

I hate to be narrow minded but a schrade made in china will never be a schrade.
while on the subject i won't buy a buck made in china either. just my .02,
It's a shame to see an old line american manufacturer close and have the name used on an inferior foreign product. sorry it's late and i'm cranky.

 

[mnblade]

Maybe this post will throw some light on the subject.

Then again, maybe not. But it made me feel better to write it, and I feel better each time I read it too.

 

[Bob W]

From Mnblade's linked post:

I think when we write Old Timer it should be understood we're talking about the rock-solid carbon steel gems that Schrade produced in upstate NY for decades.

Uh... Schrade made plenty of stainless Old Timers in New York, USA. Many models were always stainless, and most others had transitioned to stainless before 2004.

 

[JD Mandrell]

Uh... Schrade made plenty of stainless Old Timers in New York, USA. Many models were always stainless, and most others had transitioned to stainless before 2004.

I have a 34OT USA sitting right here on my desk in stainless. I've never quite understood the "Old Timers" were only carbon thing???

 

[Bob W]

I've never quite understood the "Old Timers" were only carbon thing?

Tradition, I suppose, since the early Old Timers were all carbon. And it was probably a business plan, to create seperate markets for the Uncle Henry and Old Timer product lines.

 

[jackknife]

I think in the last couple years of operation, things at Schrade were getting a bit hashed up. I know I almost bought a new Old Timer a couple years before they went under, but the fit and QA of it were bottom line. Good amount of wobble in blade, and with the method they had of assembly couldn't be snugged up. It was durring that time I recall seeing an Old Timer with blades Marked Schrade +. I figured they were using any parts at that time.

 

[Bob W]

I almost bought a new Old Timer a couple years before they went under, but the fit and QA of it were bottom line. Good amount of wobble in blade, and with the method they had of assembly couldn't be snugged up.

I think that's rare, even in the final days. I bought many Old Timers during the huge closeout and almost all of them are as well-made as the older knives. In fact, the worst quality Old Timer I've seen, enough blade wobble to be unacceptable, is in a 1974 GDOT barlow.

I figured they were using any parts at that time.

I think occational mis-matched and unusual part combinations were a long-standing tradition at Schrade. But in 2004 the market was absolutely flooded with "end of days" knives created for the sole purpose of exhausting the stashes of surplus parts. Some very interesting collecting opportunities for sure!

There are still a lot of them on eBay, and they generally sell for less than the 'accurate' model representations. But in the long run I expect their value and demand to increase at a higher rate than the "standard" models.

 

[JD Mandrell]

It was durring that time I recall seeing an Old Timer with blades Marked Schrade +. I figured they were using any parts at that time.

Mine doesn't even have the "+" marking, but it's stainless. It was from some of those last days ones also.

 

[Bob W]

Yeah, I've never seen a 34OT with the "+", but I know they were stainless by the end.